He performed the first operation to cure hip-joint ankylosis, introduced the method of suspending the patient followed by wrapping the body to correct spine distortions, and popularized circumcision in the United States.

[2] Sayre was born in Bottle Hill (now Madison), in Morris County, New Jersey in a prosperous farmer family.

He also understood the mechanisms by which cholera was brought by sailors from incoming ships and stopped it spreading to the city by implementing quarantine.

[2] In 1854, Sayre performed his first operation for the cure of hip ankylosis, which involved removal of part of the femur (at its head) to facilitate movements of the hindered joint.

Joseph Lister, the founder of antiseptic surgery, was quoted as saying, "I feel that this demonstration would of itself have been a sufficient reward for my voyage across the Atlantic."

[4] In 1870, he introduced circumcision in the United States as a purported cure for several cases of young boys presenting with paralysis and other significant gross motor problems.

Sayre was consulting surgeon to St Elizabeth's Hospital, the Northwestern Dispensary, and the Home for the Incurables in New York.

[6] Some doctors (e.g. Newton Melman Shaffer) criticized the use of plaster-of-Paris advocated by Sayre, and found it unsuitable for treating Pott disease.